g 5*r 

^ ^ ~~~-^THE  LITERARY 


collector 


The  “Christian  Culture”  Press  of 
Chicago  announce  for  early  publica- 
tion “ Two  Millenniums  of  Missions 
before  Carey,”  by  the  Rev.  Lemuel 
Call  Barnes,  of  the  Fourth  Avenue 
Church,  Pittsburg.  It  will  contain 
maps  and  illustrations. 

* * * 

Mr.  A.  Stapleton,  of  15  Carlton 
Road,  Nottingham,  England,  an- 
nounces a curious  volume  compiled 
by  himself,  “All  About  the  Merry 
Tales  of  Gotham.”  It  contains  an- 
cient Nottinghamshire  jests  and  what 
the  editor  declares  “ the  only  English 
local  collection  of  stories  of  simple- 
tons. ’ ’ 

* * * 

Why  don’t  some  of  the  people  who 
spend  vast  amounts  on  fancy  dress 
affairs  get  up  a Cruikshank  ball  ? 
Fancy  Chauncey  Depew  as  Mr.  Bum- 
ble, Peter  Marie  as  Fagin,  or  W.  K. 
Vanderbilt  as  Joey  Grimaldi.  Think 
of  the  wealth  of  characters  embodied 
in  Cruikshank ’s  works.  If  any  one 
uses  this  idea  they  may  send  the 
Editor  a couple  of  tickets  ! 

* * * 

A copy  of  the  first  edition  of  Thack- 

eray’s “ Vanity  Fair,”  in  which  had 
been  inserted  no  less  than  nine  of  the 
original  drawings  for  the  work,  has 
recently  been  acquired  by  a local  col- 
lector. 

* * * 

Messrs.  Bangs  & Co.  opened  their 

auction  season  on  the  24th  September 
with  a sale  of  miscellaneous  books. 
They  will  continue  to  sell  almost  daily 
until  next  June. 

* * * 

In  an  early  number  of  The  Liter- 
ary Collector  will  be  commenced 
a series  of  articles  by  John  Malone  en- 
titled “Shakespearian  Shams/’  deal- 
ing with  the  various  frauds  perpe- 
trated by  publishers,  editors  and 
“ discoverers  ” from  Shakespeare’s 
day  to  our  own. 

* * * 

Mr.  M.  F.  Mansfield  has  just 
published  part  4 of  his  ‘ ‘ Steven- 
soniana  ”,  It  contains  ‘ ‘A  Steven- 
son Shrine”  by  Emily  Soldene, 
facsimile  of  the  title  page  of  the  first 
edition  of  “ The  Pentland  Rising  ” 
etc. 


The  largest  and  most  expensive 
catalogue  in  the  world,  is  that  of 
the  printed  books  in  the  British 
Museum.  So  far  385  parts  have 
been  issued  and  the  price  ( includ- 
ing supplement  of  books  purchased 
up  to  December  1899 ) is  ,£385. 

GOLD  TOOLING  IN  FRANCE. 

‘ ‘ TT  would  seem  as  if  the  Muses 
A . . . had  also  applied  them- 
selves to  the  decoration  of  the 
outsides  of  the  books,  so  much  of 
art  and  esprit  appears  in  their  orna- 
mentation. They  are  all  tooled  with 
a delicacy  unknown  to  the  gilders 
of  to-day.”  So  wrote  Vigneul  de 
Marville,  speaking  of  Grolier’s. 
books  in  1725.  .But  the  statement 
would  have  applied  with  stilll 
greater  force  in  the  sixteenth  cent- 
ury when  Grolier  brought  his  su- 
perb collection  from  Italy  into 
France.  These  books  were  a rev- 
elation to  the  Treasurer-General’s- 
compatriots  ; and  the  French  bind- 
ers of  that  day,  gathering  there- 
from new  inspiration,  began  that 
surpassing  national  school  which 
was  to  make  book  binding  a truly 
Gallic  art. 

Without  doubt  the  integrity  and 
tradition  of  the  art  in  France  owes 
largely  to  the  guild  of  St.  Jean 
Latran,  dating  from  the  mid- 
dle ages.  The  guild  included  all 
the  fabricators  of  books — printers, 
binders,  stationers — though  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  upon  the  in- 
troduction of  gold  tooling  a quarrel 
arose  between  the  guild  and  certain 
workmen,  not  having  the  freedom 
of  the  guild,  who  practiced  tooling, 
albeit  their  proper  metier  was  gild- 
ing boots  and  shoes.  For  it  is 
probable  that  the  earliest  French 
gilders  united  the  trades  of  boot 
and  book  embellishment.  This 
has  been  doubted  by  some  author- 


12 


THE  LITERARY  COLLECTOR 


ities  ; but  I may  call  attention  to 
the  trademark  of  Guyot  Marchant, 
printer  and  bookbinder,  who  flour- 
ished in  the  15th  century,  in  which 
is  depicted  the  leather  worker  cob- 
bling with  a strap  across  his  knee 
after  the  fashion  of  all  good  cob- 
blers. 

But  as  to  French  binding  there 
are  questions  more  important. 
Who  were  the  craftsmen  who 
tooled  these  early  books  ? To  the 
artist  truly  should  belong  the 
fame ; yet,  unfortunately,  the 
names  of  those  who  tooled  these 
flowing  arabesques  are  generally 
unknown  ; and  the  books  are 
named  from  the  collectors  who 
placed  them  on  their  shelves. 

One  name  stands  out,  however, 
with  certainty ; that  of  Geofroy 
Tory,  an  artist  versatile.  It  is 
known  that  he  designed  letters  for 
Grolier,  his  contemporary.  But  it 
is  doubtful  if  any  of  his  bindings 
were  done  for  this  collector.  His 
style  is  Italianate,  clearly  to  be  seen 
in  a volume  of  Petrarch,  bound  by 
him,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
Here  is  the  panel  theme,  enclosed 
in  an  outer  border  of  interlacing 
Saracenic  circles.  The  source  of 
both  is  evident ; and  we  mark 
here  the  infiltration  of  the  Italian 
Renaissance  into  Southern  France, 
where  Tory  lived  and  wrought. 
On  his  work  is  seen  the  “ pot 
casse,  ’ ’ the  broken  vase,  his  trade 
mark  and  sign  manual.  His  work 
-can  be  identified. 

Not  so,  however,  the  work  of 
many  craftsmen  still  more  skillful, 
who,  under  the  influence  of  Gro- 
wer’s school,  wrought  those  books 
of  Henry  II.  and  Catharine  his 
Queen,  wrought  also  for  the  fair 
Diane,  whom  Henry  styled  faith- 
lessly his  ‘ ‘ seule  prinsese.  ’ ’ The 


names  of  these  masters  are  un- 
known, or,  at  the  best,  rest  in  con- 
jecture. In  their  styles  will  be 
found  impulses  truly  Grolieresque; 
styles  I say  advisedly,  for  here  in 
France,  as  in  Italy,  coexisted  tool- 
ing of  different  genres,  and  with 
that  which  was  Italian  much  that 
was  wholly  French.  Such  was  the 
“ semis,"  or  powder,  wherein  the 
covers  were  strewn  with  “ petits 
fers ” regularly  repeated.  This 
manner  is  feeble,  but  national  and 
ancient,  dating  from  the  middle 
ages.  It  occurs  on  many  royal 
bindings,  and  was  a favorite  with 
Nicholas  E/ve,  one  of  the  first  of 
that  family  of  binders  For  one 
must  always  bear  in  mind  that, 
among  famous  French  craftsmen, 
the  trade  descended  from  the  father 
to  the  son  ; and  well-known  names 
such  as  l£ve,  Padeloup,  Derome, 
often  stand  for  several  generations. 
Styles,  too.  as  well  as  name  and 
skill,  become  hereditary,  and  it  is 
often  impossible  to  assign  to  the 
particular  artist  a particular  ex- 
ample of  his  art. 

And  let  us  remember  that  indi- 
vidual craftsmen  worked  in  several 
styles.  Thus  the  E£ves  used  not 
only  the  semis , but  also  another 
manner  peculiarly  French,  wherein 
the  field  is  divided  into  numerous 
compartments,  each  linked  to  the 
other  by  bands  of  twisting  fillets. 
Of  these  compartments  each  is  va- 
riously filled,  some  with  spiral 
arabesques,  some;  with  isolated 
petits  fers , and  still  others  with 
little  laurel  branches, — bindings 
“ a la  fanfare , ” as  they  were  later 
dubbed  by  Nodier. 

If  one  might  be  so  bold  as  to 
characterize  one  style  out  of  many 
as  truly  typical  of  Gallic  art,  it 
would  be  this,  the  binding  “ a la 


THE  LITERARY  COLLECTOR 


13 


fa?ifare  ” with  its  twisting  and 
curvilinear  strap-work.  It  is,  so 
to  speak,  the  rectangular  strap- 
work  of  Grolier  passed  through 
and  transmuted  by  French  genius 
into  something  new  and  different. 
Here  the  spirit  of  Italian  form 
becomes  in  French  hands  over- 
refined,  weakened  and  prettified 
into  the  national  ideal. 

We  see  this  strap-work  later  on, 
revived,  forming  the  fundamental 
structure  for  the  style  of  the 
greatest  of  French  artists.,  — Le 
Gascon  the  mysterious,  that  mas- 
ter craftsman  almost  mythical. 
His  existence  even  is  denied ; but 
on  conclusive  evidence  he  lived 
and  tooled  covers  generally  ac- 
knowledged to  be  triumphs  of  the 
art. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
Italians  gradually  lightened  the 
faces  of  their  tools,  using  first  the 
solid  face,  then  tools  azured,  then 
tools  merely  outlined.  In  Le  Gas- 
con this  evolution  reached  a final 
stage  in  France,  and  his  petits  fers 
were  but  a string  of  minute  dots, 
— tools  ‘ ‘ au pointille.  ’ ’ With  these 
he  fFled  the  compartments  which 
the  Eves  designed  before  him.  The 
effect  was  incomparably  brilliant ; 
dazzling  and  lace-like  .spirals' were 
set  against  each  other  in  fine  profu- 
sion. Mr.  Horne,  in  his  admirable 
study,  points  out  that  the  spirals 
of  Le  Gascon  lack  in  structural  re- 
lation,— do  not,  indeed,  spring  one 
from  the  other  with  the  finest  sen- 
timent of  form.  But  be}Tond  doubt 
Le  Gascon  stands  artist  par-excel- 
lence in  the  history  of  binding ; 
and  we  are  told  that  he  is  so 
ranked  by  Mr.  Cobden-Sanderson, 
than  whom  there  is  probably  no 
judge  more  competent. 


In  Le  Gascon  we  have  the  cli- 
max of  gold  tooling ; thencefor- 
ward begins  the  history  of  an  art 
in  its  decline.  Le  Gascon  was 
working  in  1622,  while  in  1684  Luc 
Antoine  Boyet  was  living  at  Paris 
in  Rue  des  Sept  Voies,  and  to  him 
is  credited  the  style  called  Jansen- 
ist,  still  in  high  favor  with  the 
amateur.  The  Jansenist  binding 
has  no  gilding  or  other  ornament 
on  the  exterior,  save  only  a blind 
fillet  edging  the  covers.  Named 
from  the  sect  of  Jansenists,  of 
Port  Royal,  the  style  embodies 
their  ascetic  and  severe  ideal.  But 
even  here  the  gilding  denied  to 
the  outside  was  lavished  on  the 
“ doublure  ” or  inner  lining  of  the 
cover  ; this  lining,  made  of  leather, 
was  elaborately  tooled  with  a deep 
“ dentelle,}\  or  lace-like,  indented 
border.  At  this  point  in  its  his- 
tory the  craft  has  reached  a higher 
technical  accomplishment.  Here, 
as  in  other  arts,  a decline  in  genius 
is  offset  by  a gain  in  craftsmanship. 
Padeloup  was  binding  at  this  pe- 
riod and  is  famous  for  mosaics  of 
gorgeous  inlaid  leathers,  feeble  in 
invention  but  gorgeous  none  the 
less.  Here  was  another  techni- 
cal advance,  for  the  polychro- 
matic effects  of  Grolier  and  the 
early  Renaissance  were  done  with 
pigments,  not  in  true  mosaic. 

The  dentelle  style  which  Boyet 
lavished  on  the  doublure  was  trans- 
ferred by  the  Deromes  and  Pade- 
loups  to  the  outer  cover.  The 
style,  named  from  its  resemblance 
to  the  lace  work  of  the  period,  is 
rococo  and  debased,  a true  reflec- 
tion of  the  day,  an  art  weak  in  idea 
and  structure,  seeking  the  gor- 
geous chiefly,  a child  of  the  age, 
vain-glorious,  and  soon  to  fcbe 
extinguished  in  the  blast  &of 
revolution. 

How  inevitably  does  art  reflect 
the  spirit  of  its  day  and  incarnate 


14  the  literary  collector 


the  contemporary  ideal  ! So  it  is 
even  with  this  minor  art  of  binding; 
at  every  stage  taking  its  keynote 
from  the  passing  fashion.  To 
study  the  progress  of  the  art  in 
France  is,  in  a little  but  not  unin- 
teresting way,  to  study  the  history 
of  France,  to  observe  its  follies, 
the  pomp  of  King  and  courtier, 
and  to  take  part  in  the  luxury  of 
Queen  and  favorite.  We  catch 
in  these  gilded  arabesques  the 
glint  and  true  lineament  of 
many  old  ideals.  It  is  profitable, 
this  study,  as  well  as  entertaining. 

You  know  the  styles  of  Michael- 
Angelo  or  Titian  with  reasonable 
precision.  Well,  it  is  no  harder, 
with  a little  study,  to  know  the 
style  of  masters  in  this  minor  art ; 
whence  comes  an  added  pleasure  as 
you  wander  through  the  museums 
of  Europe,  or  handle,  perchance, 
for  a brief  moment,  the  treasures 
of  your  friend,  the  famous  biblio- 
phile. 

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CATALOGU 

E S F R.  E E 

DESCRIBING  portions  of  the  choice  new  and  old  books  secured  by 
Mr.  Lauriat  the  past  summer  in  Europe  ; of  three  large  private  col- 
lections of  books  recently  bought  by  us  in  this  country  ; and  of  the 
extensive  stock  of  the  well-known  New  York  bookseller,  William  Evartt 
Benjamin,  which  we  have  just  purchased  and  removed  to  our  store. 

These  catalogues  will  contain  some  of  the  best  bargains  ever  offered. to  Ameri- 
can bookbuyers.  They  will  be  issued  as  rapidly  as  possible  and  will  be  sent 
Free  to  any  reader  of  the  Literary  Collector  who  will  send  us  his  address. 


CHARLES  E.  LAURIAT  CO , Successors  to  Estes  & Lauriat 

301  Washington  Street,  opposite  “Old  South/’  Boston 


